Several of the tracks are disappointing, and you miss the dancing !
Recommend to potential buyers:
yes
Full review
Based on the famous film where the chorus girl becomes a star (that's really all the plot you need to know to follow the album), and boasting numerous songs by Hollywood songsmith Harry Warren (lyrics mostly by Al Dubin), not to mention a cast of 54 performers and a sizeable orchestra, 42nd Street was the first Broadway smash hit of the 1980s. This is the recording of that production – numerous other recordings of the stage version of 42nd Street exist, but this is the first and the best. Not all of the songs were written for the original film: about half are borrowed from other films of the 1930s and even the big hit, 'Lullaby of Broadway', actually comes from a different source, Gold Diggers of 1935. The disc's biggest assets are the size of cast (huge for Broadway by this point) and orchestra, which give it a fuller sound than many other cast recordings of the last 30 years or so including the recording of 42nd Street's recent revival.
The disc opens with an overture which includes strains of the familiar 'We're in the Money' before opening out to include a huge troupe of tap dancers. On stage, this must have been an incredible sight, and even on disc, the sound of all those dancing feet is truly incredible. The heart starts pounding towards the end of the track when the dancers start counting their steps, and the next track has a lot to live up to. Thankfully, this is 'Shadow Waltz', which features Tammy Grimes as the show-within-a-show's star, and although by this point she was perhaps 20 years past her prime, her star power shines through in this torch song. Unfortunately, once the chorus join in, the lyrics suddenly sound twee, even when they are the same lyrics which sound so emotional when sung by the star. Most odd.
Next up, 'Young and Healthy' is a bit of a let down. A peppy number for the romantic lead, joined by auditionee Peggy, it's unengaging to say the least. After this, the younger characters sing 'Go Into Your Dance', one of the many 'keep on smiling' songs which Depression-era America produced. Not one of its best though. Lots of exciting tapping in this track, too, but unlike the Overture, I really find that I miss the visuals here. The track would be all right if it was half the length, but as it is, it becomes annoying.
Tammy Grimes returns on the next track, 'You're Getting To Be a Habit With Me', rescuing the listener from boredom. Not one of the 1930s' greatest love songs, her performance of it transcends the material and wins the listener over. The orchestra take over the melody from the star, sounding wonderfully lush, with far more personnel than you get on some more recent recordings.
After this comes 'Getting Out of Town', a plot number, which always catches me out as I listen, contrasted as it is with pleasant, but merely decorative songs. The whole company gets involved here, making it an exciting track, but still not a thrilling one. But the thrills are almost here. The next track is one of the show's most familiar tunes, 'We're in the Money', performed largely by the female ensemble. The tempo is most definitely up, the spirits are high, and more engagingly so than in 'Go Into Your Dance'. Inevitable taps dominate the second half of the track, but as the orchestra is prominent in the mix, this isn't much of a problem.
'Who writes the words and music for all the girlie shows? No-one cares and no-one knows' sings the romantic lead, as he introduces the ravishing 'Dames', which admits that the female chorus was the main attraction for almost all 1930s Broadway shows. Lee Roy Reams as Billy Lawlor has a beautiful voice and is given good, energetic support by the ensemble on this track. The first vocal track that I truly love. And the next track keeps up the quality with 'Sunny Side To Every Situation', another of those 'the Depression isn't so depressing really' songs, but one of the better ones. The lyrics produce a smile as the characters find the sunny side to even the most mundane of bad situations.
But all of this is mere prelude to the main event. Jerry Orbach serenades the listener with the 'Lullaby of Broadway', surely Harry Warren's most recognisable song. After he gives the song one sing-through, the orchestra sounds mournful as the rest of the cast gradually join in and take over the mood of the song, bringing the energy level up and introducing some beautiful harmonies on the 'good night baby' section. The orchestra then cuts loose, before a rousing sing-along of the tune which only the grumpiest of listeners could fail to like. This is the turning point of the plot, when the chorus girl agrees to go on in the star's place. And it's the high-point of the album, and presumably the show.
Tammy Grimes as the star shares the honours on 'About a Quarter To Nine' with Wanda Richert as the chorus girl who soon will be a star. Grimes steals the track on disc, but only just. This leads into a set piece from the show-within-a-show, 'Shuffle Off To Buffalo' which sounds frankly silly, though I'm sure it works much better in context on stage. I'd rather listen to 'Choo Choo Honeymoon', a parody of this song from 'Dames at Sea', but the song we have is inoffensive, so only rarely gets skipped over.
The reason to skip over it would be to get to the title track more quickly. It's sultry and the most modern-sounding of the songs (despite being one of the earliest to be written, oddly). 'Come and meet those dancing feet, one the avenue I'm taking you to...' The brass section of the orchestra gets used well on this track, and the taps come out again, to great effect, supplementing the vocals and instrumental. The pulsing melody is greatly enhanced by the staccato of the tapping. Despite being over seven minutes long, and quite obviously a dance number, this number does not even begin to outstay its welcome. There is clearly a drama being acted and danced to this track, but the emotions of it come through on the recording. For a Finale, Jerry Orbach gives a very different interpretation of '42nd Street' which works just as well, and the CD ends with the company's bows, taken to a medley of 'Dames' and, inevitably, 'Lullaby of Broadway', reminding the listener of the disc's highlights and sending me, at least, off on a high note.
The liner notes are brief, offering a few small pictures from the show plus cast list, synopsis, track listing and a few paragraphs about the show itself. The notes are sufficient, though, and the synopsis is detailed, putting all the tracks into the show's context. The recording does, however, commit one of the cardinal sins of both cast recordings and soundtracks, as the songs are not all in the order they appear in on stage (this is only obvious due to the marvellous synopsis, though!). This is probably due to the need to fit it onto the two sides of an LP, but the CD reissue really could have corrected the problem. It may be picky, but this always annoys me and detracts slightly from my enjoyment of an album. Another minus feature which may be evident from the discussion of the individual tracks above is that this is largely a dance show (choreographed by Gower Champion, who had the unenviable task of living up to Busby Berkeley's work from the film), and the lack of a visual element damages the listening experience more than it does on most other cast albums. Several tracks do stand out even with this caveat, and the sound quality on the recording is obviously much better than on CD transfers of the early 1930s versions of these songs.
I am a big fan of the music of this era, but most of the songs featured here do not grab me as the works of Cole Porter, Rodgers and Hart, the Gershwins or even Vincent Youman's later works do. I think this is down to Al Dubin's lyrics rather than Harry Warren's music, but it is hard to tell. When Warren and Dubin's songs are they're good they are very good, but when they're not, they just leave me cold. As songs from other Warren and Dubin films were interpolated into the stage version of 42ns Street, it is a shame that their love song 'I Only Have Eyes For You' (from the 1934 film Dames) wasn't used, as that is a truly marvellous song. Still, I can't really hold that against the recording, which simply represents the show as seen on stage.
The 'Overture', plus 'Shadow Waltz', 'Dames', 'Lullaby of Broadway' and '42nd Street' make this CD, but the rest of the songs are a case of 'take 'em or leave 'em' really. I recommend the CD on the strength of these tracks, but probably only to fellow lovers of musical theatre. Incidentally, don't bother with the bargain-priced recordings of this show, as those really are CDs where you get what you pay for, offering below-par renditions of even the best numbers, largely due to a smaller size of cast and orchestra.
Details – the 1980 Broadway Cast Recording of 42nd Street is on the RCA Victor label and has the catalogue number BD83891. Running time is just under 50 minutes. I've seen this priced from 10 to 15 pounds.
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Good
Cover / Inlay Design and Content
Satisfactory
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